The NSW government is giving $700,000 to improve the greyhound racetrack in Goulburn.
Photograph: Jonny Weeks for the Guardian

The New South Wales government is handing out $700,000 in taxpayers’ money to help ACT greyhound trainers continue the practice across the border after the territory’s ban.

The announcement, made quietly on Friday amid leadership chaos in Canberra, comes on top of $500,000 the government gave to the industry just weeks ago to fund the world’s richest greyhound race, Million Dollar Chase at Wentworth Park.

It also comes just two years after the former NSW premier Mike Baird announced a ban on the sport in response to a damning report on animal cruelty. Three months later, Baird overturned the ban after a backlash from the NSW Nationals, looming byelections in western NSW and sustained criticism from talkback radio and the Daily Telegraph.

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Since then, the government has been keen to win over support from the industry.

The NSW deputy premier, John Barilaro, says the money will go towards safety improvements at the Goulburn greyhound racing club to allow for night racing meets.

The track will provide a temporary home for the Canberra greyhound racing club.

“Greyhound racing is a favoured pastime for many and by improving the Goulburn racetrack we are supporting the relocation of the club in the short term,” the Nationals leader said in a statement on Friday.

The government has committed $700,000 to the upgrade, with another $500,000 to come from Greyhound Racing NSW.

The industry was banned in Canberra from May after legislation to make the sport illegal passed the ACT parliament in November 2017 over concerns for animal welfare.

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Greyhound racers were able to apply for transition support packages until the end of June.

Barilaro announced on Friday the coalition was preparing a business case to build a new track in Queanbeyan, which is just 10km from Canberra but inside NSW.

“A new track will inject spending, generate jobs and give the greyhound industry a new home in our growing city,” he said.

The NSW racing minister, Paul Toole, says the study will look into building the track within an existing sporting facility capable of hosting a greyhound “centre of excellence”, including dog rehoming.